Slackline Records

This is a new section for the site, and as such it’s still being fine-tuned. About two years ago I proposed to some friends in the slackline community that we ought to have a record repository. For a long while the few online forums we used served as a place to track records, but as Europe began to overtake the US, suddenly non-English forums contained the only postings of new records, and it seemed like it was becoming increasingly difficult to track what the newest record was.

Additionally, as the sport has grown it has really diversified into a few disciplines. There is now longlining, tricklining, and highlining, as well as combinations thereof (e.g. longest highline). Within each of these disciplines there are different achievements that really should be allowed to stand on their own. For instance, walking a 150 meter piece of single tubular webbing is an achievement, as is walking a 150 meter piece of polyester flat webbing — these are not, however, the same thing, and should be counted as individual records.

Lastly as each new record is put up, it’s hard to remember who had the old record, when it was set, what it was, and so forth. For all of these reasons a central repository of notable slackline achievements makes sense. This page is not meant to be a list of “who is the best”, but rather a historical record that we can use to reflect on the many slackliners who work so hard to advance this sport that we love.

Longest single tubular nylon 1/2″ line:
Someone, somewhere has probably walked a rodeo-line spool of 1/2″ … if you know who, drop me a line. I have walked a 300′ piece, but I suspect this is not the record length. If I don’t hear from someone soon, I will rig a 400-500′ piece and attempt to walk it 🙂

*I have had difficulty finding a source for the exact height of the LAS at Yosemite. Several different Internet resources and quotes from newspaper articles put it at 3000+ feet or “double the height of the Empire State Building” or something along these lines. Sayar Kuchenski wrote to me in August of 2012 to say, “I wanted to comment on the [LAS height]. I have climbed the entire Lost Arrow Spire route which leads to the top of the LA spire tip on the landmass side. I added up the pitch lengths noted in the guidebook and got 1690′. So the actual climbing route is 1690′. However, the route does not follow a straight line, it traverses around the rock a bit. So I am confident with my orginal assertion, the distance from the ground to the tip is around 1400′. In fact, the anchor used for the far end of the LAS highline is the same anchor used for the last pitch of the climbing route. So the highline is the exact same height as the end of the climbing route and when the climbing route is 1690′ from the ground to the summit, there is no possible way the highline could be 3000′. From the tip of the spire to the ground it is 1400′. That is no where near the claimed 3000′ … For reference, the Nose of El Cap is about 2900′ from the ground to the summit. If you compare the LA Spire to El Cap, it is clear that the spire is not even remotely as tall.” I trust his assertion, and although Google Maps terrain feature doesn’t have enough resolution to show the spire, it does show the other side of the line and the terrain listing is consistent (6900ft, with valley floor at 5400). If anyone disagrees or has more details, please contact me.